Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
She watched in disbelief as he turned the knobs of the shower to get the water going. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
“The goddamn condom broke, Sloan. I didn’t pull out, and you were a fucking virgin until less than a week ago, so unless you’ve been hiding some sort of birth control, you need to get my motherfucking come out of you. Now.”
Perversely, his near panic made her calmer. She stepped into the shower mostly to appease him, even though she knew her next words would negate that completely. “It’s not going to be enough. I need…” She thought fast. “I need the day-after pill.”
He stared at her. “Do you really think there’s a pharmacy closer than Portland with one of those?”
She hadn’t thought about it. She hadn’t thought about anything—she’d been too busy enjoying her time with him. The thought of birth control had been a distant one because they were using protection, but now she felt incomparably stupid for not having gone and gotten a prescription for the pill after the first time they were together.
Except you need a doctor to get a prescription and I don’t have one of those locally, and I can hardly call up Doc Jones and ask her.
She ducked her head under the spray and when the water ran from her eyes, she found him staring at her. “What?”
“This is beyond fucked.”
She couldn’t argue that, but his obvious distress wasn’t exactly reassuring. “I’ll call around and see if I can find it.” She scrubbed down, feeling like he’d pointed a spotlight on her. “Actually, I have a shift in a few hours and nothing will be open before then. You’ll have to do it.”
“Call in.”
She glared. “Absolutely not. Broken condom or no, I need this job and I can’t start calling in after a grand total of two shifts spent working for Marge. She’ll fire me on the spot.”
“Everyone knows Marge has a soft spot a mile wide. Call in. This is more important than your fucking waitressing job.”
That he so casually dismissed something she was proud of grated. She turned off the water and grabbed a towel. “You’re free to feel that way. But you aren’t my father or my…my boyfriend.” She shook her head. “Pretend I never said that. The point is that you don’t get a say, Jude. As you’re so fond of pointing out, this is just sex. We set out the terms, and nowhere in those terms did it say you can tell me when I will and won’t go into work.”
“That was before this.” He waved between them as if that really meant something. “And that was before—” Jude cut himself off.
Another time, she might press to know what he’d been about to say. Right now, Sloan just didn’t care.
She strode past him and back into the bedroom. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was barely five. Sunrise yoga would be starting relatively soon, which was fine by her. She found the idea of staying in this house with an irrational Jude for a second longer than necessary stressful in the extreme.
Sloan pulled on a pair of yoga pants and was reaching for a sports bra when Jude grabbed her wrist. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Sitting here worrying about something that is unlikely to happen isn’t going to do a single thing but stress us both out.” She pulled, but he didn’t release her. “For heaven’s sake, Jude. People have unprotected sex all the time, and it doesn’t result in…” Pregnancy. A baby. She couldn’t quite say either.
She’d spent too much of her life sitting and worrying about things beyond her control. It didn’t change anything except to make her feel helpless and useless. She might as well be proactive about the things she could control instead. “Unless you’re about to tell me that you have an STD and I need to go to a doctor immediately, let go of me.”
“I’m clean.”
She released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Okay.” She shouldn’t trust him, but he had no reason to lie about it now. The horse was out of the barn, or whatever that saying was.
“It’s the damnedest thing.” He said it so softly, she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself. “Even knowing what could happen, I still want you. If it’s possible, I want you more knowing that I could fuck you right now without a condom and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference.”
Her body flushed hot at the thought of being with him without a single thing between them. She wanted it. She wanted it so badly she almost said yes.
Almost.
“It would make a difference.” She met his dark gaze and forced herself to be reasonable. “It would increase the chance of there being consequences.”